WA's South Coast Highway upgrades close to completion

WA’s South Coast Highway upgrades close to completion

The $30 million upgrade of Western Australia’s South Coast Highway is days away from completion. The three-stage project has seen more than 11 kilometres of highway upgraded between Albany and Jerramungup in the Great Southern since the start of 2019.

The project includes the reconstruction of a six kilometre section of highway and the construction of two passing lanes between Bluff Creek Road and Kojaneerup West Road – improving road safety on this stretch of highway.

Earlier staged improvements have included:

Stage one: Mead Road section – widening the pavement from seven to 11 metres between Kilarney Road and Monty’s Leap Winery, and construction of a westbound passing lane approximately 2.5 kilometres west of Kalgan River Bridge (completed June 2019).
Stage two: Kalgan section – widening the pavement from seven to 11 metres between Monty’s Leap Winery and the Kalgan River Bridge (completed April 2020).

The contract for Stage three of the project was awarded to Western Australian company Ertech in October 2020. It has supported more than 150 direct and indirect jobs during construction.

Western Australia Transport Minister Rita Saffioti and Albany MLA Rebecca Stephens inspected the works yesterday. Ms Saffioti said the project marked a major milestone in the McGowan Government’s $210 million program of infrastructure works.

“The McGowan Government is committed to making travel safer for all Western Australians and I’m thrilled to be here and to see the safety improvements that have been undertaken as part of this project,” she said.

“We’re also undertaking more than 485 kilometres of shoulder sealing and installing audible edge lines on sections of Chester Pass Road, South Western Highway, Albany Highway, Muir Highway, Great Southern Highway and South Coast Highway as part of the Regional Road Safety Program, to provide road users with a more forgiving and much safer driving environment.”